Free Republic

It was as if John Boehner had a confession to make after all these years of troubled conscience. His recent resignation had the effect of suggesting the pro wrestling in Congress is fake (emphasis mine). The Washington Republicans, dear fans are supposed to lose – after making some effort to heighten the drama — to the Capital Democrats. All those heart stopping moments toward the end lost due to some error or a sudden reversal of fortune — well that was in the script. Republican Eric Cantor, writing in the New York Times, argues that there was no dishonor to...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared on one Sunday show — CBS’ “Face the Nation” — after his Friday surprise announcement that he’d be resigning from Congress in about a month.And Boehner used the opportunity to make another firm announcement: There will be no government shutdown this week, despite the efforts of some conservatives to block Planned Parenthood funding. “The Senate is expected to pass a continuing resolution [this] week. The House will take up the Senate bill. We will also take up a select committee to investigate these horrific videos that we have seen from abortion clinics in several...

Grassroots voters in 2014 apparently foiled a secret plan by House Speaker Rep. John Boehner to give his top job to the party’s House Majority Leader, Rep. Eric Cantor, who is a close ally of the GOP’s establishment wing. The plan suddenly collapsed last June after Cantor’s constituents in Virginia’s 7th district rejected him in favor of his primary challenger, economics professor Rep. Dave Brat. Brat won by blasting Cantor for mimicking Senator Sen. Marco Rubio’s effort to pass the mass-amnesty bill that would further raise high immigration levels. “The Speaker’s plan was to serve only through the end of...

LIKE so many others, I was stunned by Speaker John A. Boehner’s announcement on Friday that he would step down at the end of October. For nearly six years — first as Republican whip and then as majority leader — I met with John on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis as we worked to lead the House Republican Conference. (SNIP) We are in the midst of a campaign to elect the next president. After two terms of President Obama, an economy that is growing too slowly and a retrenchment of American power abroad, the conservative to-do list for the next...

The race has come down to preferred establishment candidate, Kevin McCarthy vs. Raul Labrador. (SNIP) On Wednesday, McCarthy assured Chamber of Commerce lobbyists that under his leadership, it would be business as usual… (SNIP) La Raza’s Labrador Retriever pledged to make amnesty the GOP’s #1 priority in 2015… Immigration reform should be “one of the first things” Republicans take up. Before coming to Congress, Labrador ran a website called rapidimmigration.com, with “easy to understand advice for illegal immigrants seeking amnesty”…

Ooouuuch. My sides are still aching after last week's comical announcement by GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush that he had snagged the coveted endorsement of notorious electoral reject Eric Cantor, the former House majority leader kicked to the curb by disgusted voters in Virginia's 2014 primary election. Newsflash to GOP elites: Getting Cantor's support is not like landing a prized marlin. It's like hooking one of those hideous bottom-feeding blobfish named the world's ugliest creature. Inside the Beltway, The Washington Post reported, "Cantor remains well-liked and respected in the Virginia business community and among the Republican donor class in the...

Trying to get the GOP base on your side? Master stroke from Jeb! here. Cantor was courted intensely by other candidates. Cantor retains a strong political network in Virginia, a key primary and swing state. And he has enviable connections among Jewish business leaders who can be key supporters and donors. “This is a big deal for Eric, and a big deal for Jeb,” said a top Republican involved in the negotiations. A Cantor source said: “They have known each other for a long time, speak regularly and have great mutual respect for one another. Eric believes he is the...

Rejected GOP leader Eric Cantor will endorse Jeb Bush and become the co-chair of Bush’s presidential campaign in Virginia, according to Politico.

Last year, House Democrats saw ex-Majority Leader Eric Cantor as a possible (if ultimately disappointing) ally in the fight to rewrite the Voting Rights Act for the 21st century. On Tuesday, Cantor’s leadership successor, Kevin McCarthy, might have revealed himself as another important potential friend to the effort. The California Republican echoed at a pen-and-pad briefing what fellow GOP lawmakers have said before: Any revision of the landmark 1965 law has to start in the Judiciary Committee — a disappointing answer for advocates who know Chairman Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., is disinclined to tackle the matter. But McCarthy later said...

For those who say JD can’t win and no one can beat John Boehner – I can only say this: Go to New York, head on over to K Street (Wall Street) and find former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, where he’s working some cushy, high-paid, influence peddling job now, since getting his arse handed to him by “he can’t win” Dave Brat. Walk up to Cantor and tell him JD Winteregg cannot beat John Boehner: Then, I want you to take out your iPhone and take a pic of Eric Cantor’s face right after you tell him Winteregg can’t...

Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio told FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace he still believe in comprehensive immigration reform, but the votes just aren't there. Rubio this is due to the 2014 border crisis and "unilateral actions the president took in his executive orders." Rubio acknowledged former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) "partially lost" the Republican primary in 2014 because of his support for comprehensive immigration reform. "The problem is the votes aren't there in the House," Rubio said Sunday. "And as you know, for example, the Majority Leader of the House partially lost his election on the perception...

Middleburg, Va. Republicans have few built-in advantages in politics. But they do have one that’s already a factor in the 2016 presidential campaign. That advantage is ideas, especially ones affecting middle-income Americans. GOP presidential candidates were among the first to notice. Florida senator Marco Rubio, who announced for president last week, met several times with a group of conservative intellectuals last year. Now his agenda, notably on taxes, echoes their ideas. So does his new book, American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone. When Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, came to Washington in February, he made a point of...

RICHMOND — Less than a year after Eric Cantor’s shocking defeat to a tea party challenger, House Speaker William J. Howell is taking nothing for granted in his first serious primary challenge in nearly three decades. The latest sign that Howell (R-Stafford) learned from the mistakes of the former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives came Wednesday, when the state lawmaker launched a Web site titled “We Know Bill.” It includes dozens of vignettes, complete with photos and fawning quotes, from retirees, busi­ness­peo­ple and activists talking about why they support Howell over his challenger, Susan Stimpson. The approach...

A question I often am asked is: "Who would you bet on to win the presidency?" Personally, I don't bet on politics, but here's my current take on the 2016 presidential race—with, of course, the caveat that we don't know which campaigns will turn out the best in terms of organization, strategy, tactics, or execution, much less which candidates will step on land mines along the way. The Democratic nomination appears fairly straightforward. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now the prohibitive favorite. If her early stumbles during her book tour, or remarks like the one she made about...

Republican Eric Cantor on Saturday addressed the inaugural gathering of a group formed after grass-roots activists helped Dave Brat topple the former majority leader in last summer’s GOP primary. The day-long meeting of the Virginia Conservative Network featured a who’s who of establishment Republicans in the mold of Cantor, many of whom are frustrated with the party’s loss of all five statewide offices in recent years. According to organizers, Cantor gave an invitation-only crowd of more than 100 people tips on how to frame their message to voters as Republicans prepare to defend their slim majority in the state Senate...

Last June in the run up to a primary he was so sure he would win, former Obama water boy Eric Cantor didn’t bother to campaign. He had told his liars about being a warrior against illegal aliens polluting America and decided to merely wait in Washington for word of his victory. That didn’t happen. He was crushed by a TEA party candidate. When he got his head handed to him Cantor was shocked and acted contrite. That was his act then; but now free to be his real self he is taking some very different positions. As a Wall...

Unlike his predecessor as host of Meet the Press, Chuck Todd is an approachable, un-phony presence. He knows politics and clearly enjoys politics. But, boy, is he excitable, especially on the subject of immigration, where he often lets the drama of the moment cloud his judgment. [You need three examples-ed. Got em.] 1. It’s November 7, 2012. Romney has just lost the presidency, something many analysts immediately blame on his poor showing among Latinos. The Beltway mind instantly draws but one conclusion: Republicans need to assuage Latinos by legalizing illegal immigrants, stat. Obama’s ‘immigration reform,’ Todd says, will get “80...

Incoming Virginia congressman Dave Brat, whose historic GOP primary victory over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor shook up Washington’s power structure this summer, is blasting President Obama’s executive fiat on immigration reform as "morally vacuous" – while stopping short of calling for impeachment.

GOP members have released their draft amendment to defund President Barack Obama’s national amnesty. “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available, including any funds or fees collected or otherwise made available for expenditure, by this division or any other Act, or otherwise available to the Secretary of Homeland Security, for any fiscal year may be used to implement, administer, carry out, or enforce the [amnesty] policies,” says the short amendment. The new anti-amnesty language is being pushed by Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon, South Carolina’s Rep. Mick Mulvaney and Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, who unseated the GOP’s pro-amnesty majority...

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), who shockingly toppled former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in a primary this summer, says he'll support John Boehner (R-Ohio) for Speaker. Brat told The Hill he plans to vote for Boehner on the floor in January when the Speaker is elected by the full House for the new Congress. "As of right now, yeah," Brat said. "I'm optimistic our leadership's going to move forward on the principles I ran on."